Despite playing nine rounds of golf in the last seven days, Sean Desmond still had plenty left in the tank today as he aimed to retain his Bruen Youths title in Muskerry. The Monkstown member spent last week in Ballybunion at the Kerry Boys, losing out on Friday morning to the eventual winner John Murphy. After Ballybunion Sean headed for Cork Golf Club and played a huge role in Monkstown’s Senior Cup win on Saturday. After the luxury of a day off on Sunday, he went to Muskerry hoping to add his name to a select group by winning a second Bruen Youths title. Desmond opened with a 76, which had him three off the lead which was held by Jack Howard from Fota Island. A few golfers were lurking near the top of the leaderboard, Timmy Broderick, Jack Egan and Darren Hourihan were all within two shots of the lead. Howard added a 75 to his total in the afternoon, meaning that Desmond would need to shoot a level par 71 to win. As it happened, Desmond was on level par heading onto the 18th, and he birdied the final hole to sign for a 70. It was a great way to finish for the 18th year old, Desmond was in the headlines on Saturday when he claimed the winning point for Monkstown in the AIG Senior Cup Munster final at Cork Golf Club. Jack Howard took second place and Muskerry’s Jack Egan was third.

Desmond is earning a reputation as a closer, 12 months ago he won on the 20th green in the Senior Cup semi final to get Monkstown through to the final. He also shot a course record 66 in Ceann Sibeal two weeks ago. Desmond joins Cathal Butler, Aaron O’Callaghan and Dave O’Donovan as only the fourth golfer in 30 years to win back to back titles.